The dogs and their lovers are in luck. This scientific advance will help conserve dog breeds in danger and will allow the application of new gene editing techniques to eradicate their inherited diseases .
Humans will benefit as well, as we share more than 350 genetic disorders with dogs. This resemblance between them will make man’s best friends ” a powerful tool for understanding the genetic basis of disease, ” says Alex Travis, professor of Reproductive Biology at Cornell and one of the authors of the research.
The scientists transferred 19 embryos to a female dog that gave birth to seven healthy pups: two of them the daughters of a beagle and a cocker spaniel, and the other five products of male and female beagles. In vitro fertilization requires that the fertilization of oocytes by sperm takes place outside the mother’s body; Afterwards, the oocyte is transferred to the mother’s uterus at the right moment of the reproductive cycle, which in the case of dogs occurs once or twice a year. To achieve this time adjustment, the embryos were frozen prior to insertion.
This work will have consequences for the conservation of wildlife. Its success proves that it will be possible to store the genes of endangered species. In the case of dogs, it will serve to preserve rare breeds and maintain the characteristics of others intended for work . In addition, it will allow to tackle specific ailments produced by the selection aimed at achieving certain canine traits: for example, the lymphoma to which Golden retrievers are prone, or the kidney failure that attacks Dalmatians due to a defective gene.
Image : The first dogs born thanks to in vitro fertilization have not presented any health problems. Credit : Cornell University
